Yesterday morning I was woken, well not woken exactly, my neighbour incessant knocking dragged me me downstairs as her car would not start. Her name is “Alleluia” and it’s Angolan, and nothing to do with Leonard Cohen, and even if it did, I would say it was due to Jeff Buckley as the Cohen original just isn’t my bag at all, but I’m off on a tangent again. I went out to help, and after fining that she had asked, and no one had jumper cables, I said to her do you know how to jump start a car? Four pushes up and down the road proved she didn’t and as I was close to a heart attack, I stopped. I asked her if she had spoken to the other neighbours? she hadn’t so I did and eventually found some jumper cables.
This got me thinking, a few years ago when I still lived in Johannesburg, in an affluent suburb called Northcliff, I remember always feeling under siege while there, we where shocked by what appeared to be the random shooting of a 16 year old school girl in her drive way. The neighbourhood was shocked and there was a lot of interest, and a close eye was kept on the investigation by the media, but our understaffed, underpaid, underfunded and uneducated police force could simply not solve the case. The devastated family then turned to a *retired detective Piet Beyleveld who in a few months had found that the house next door was being used as a meth lab and that the young girl was shot as a warning, but the hit man got the wrong address.
I see you are asking what the hell have those stories got to do with anything? so I will ask you a question, you behind your walls and locks, how well do you know your neighbour? Do you even know your neighbour? The problem is that we have been conned into believing that we should protect ourselves, take care of yourself, but the fact of the matter is that if you looked out for your neighbour and he looked out for you, you’re protected, and soon the neighbourhood is taking care of itself. I hear the neigh Sayer’s now “High walls make for good neighbours” that’s what you are made to believe, when the truth is, that if something were to happen to you and you need immediate help, who’s closest to you? who can get to you soonest?
We self police due to the serious lack of a police force that can be trusted, so why can’t we extend a hand to our neighbours, and draw the community closer, instead of isolated walled homes as refuges, that we cower behind.
I’m going to say hello to mine today, cause I’m done with pushing a car up and down when my neighbour had jumper cables.

*Retired due to pressure buy the ANC government for the Police to be Black Empowered.

It’s a Sunday afternoon, I would say lazy, but most of my Sunday’s aren’t but today that’s an exception. My mind however hasn’t been, and though I know it’s been a while and I’ve not written about what’s been going on, but writing without thought I’m not going to do.
The first thing that comes to mind is just one of those things that gets to me as an old advertising Creative Director, I just saw the new Tsogo Sun ad… ACDC’s thunderstruck as a soundtrack???? Really, I just don’t get that, all these holiday shots and gorgeous pool shots and stuff, just doesn’t hold together, it’s just retarded, these images make me wanna go chill and the sound is making my heart race. Then it’s followed by the new Engen commercial, and here the creatives used the same style with vignettes of people around the gas station and related shots and underpinned it with a Randy Newman classic “friends” it’s perfect, you wanna go on a road trip and stop at the station just cause its so cool.
Yesterday, Liverpool beat Everton, to go into the FA Cup Final, whoohoo, it takes a brave man with a strong heart to support Liverpool FC as our lives are like the a stormy sea, great swells and heart breaking troughs, a season that started with so much promise sees us wallowing in mid table again with some terrible performances of late, but with the Carling Cup in the bag, and Chelsea to beat in the final, there is hope for the double.
So it’s not a huge blog, and and nothing to exciting but hey that’s how I’m doing right now.
One thing, two designs for ladies vests and men’s T’s these are available on order and are R200 excluding postage. if you’re interested, send me a mail at milo@mrluckytattoos.com

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It’s been a few weeks since I wrote something, and I guess you could say I been content, but you know you would be wrong… I just have been giving to much energy to the shit surrounding me that I just haven’t taken the time to write.
Things have been weird, I mean really weird, people getting possessive about fuck all, and taking up my space and time, not to mention the constant freeloaders, I just had to eventually make myself heard, and so some are pissed at me, but I really don’t give a continental shit.
I have been doing some cool work of late and have some great projects besides the 3 new t shirt designs, I have been doing some really nice tattoos.
Every morning for 2 weeks I’m woken by a baby crying in the car park across the street, firstly why is this mother bringing her child with to sit in a car park all day? Secondly why is it constantly crying? I need to find out what is going on, and call child protection services.
Jeez I have so much to bitch about but I don’t even know where to begin, and I actually find myself wondering why even bother, but I will tell you about my photographic saga… Its quiet funny and perhaps if you are into photography might help you save some cash.
To cut a long story a little shorter I saw my good friend Rob shoot with a “Beauty Dish” and even shot some of the tattoos I had done and the results were fantastic, so I decided that this is the way to go and that it would solve my problems when it came to shooting tattoos. So I went to ORMS, here in the city, I explained, I’m just a tattoo artist that wants to shoot good quality images of the work I do, I want to use a beauty dish. So I take the existing light I have, my oldish Canon, and I show them, these guys sell me a dish that I have to tape on, and promise to get me remote triggers that work, they don’t but when I start chatting to some other guy he says no hang on a minute these will work, the ones that work are R599, as opposed to the ones the first guy mentioned at R2300. The dish is R2100, it’s an Elinchrom, very good stuff, high end, but remember that I only shoot my work I’m no pro. Now I just don’t know about this shit, and taping stuff on just isn’t the way things work with me so I say dude, sell me the smallest light to power this beauty dish and lets get it over with, R3600, fuck no, this isn’t what I wanted to do, I don’t want to spend 6 grand on this exercise. So I talk to Rob he says “Dude, get hold of this guy in Johannesburg, Graham Robertson Photographic, check his site out”http://wowcity.com/link_to.php?url=http://www.grphotographic.co.za so I do, it’s the public holiday, and I can’t do anything about this. First thing Thursday, I speak to Nadine, Grahams wife, and in no time I have an invoice for a light 220W, Beauty Dish, and a small Soft Box, with delivery to my door, total R2860, and it will be here by Friday afternoon, how awesome is that? half the price, OK so it’s not Elinchrom, but this is all a dumb ass tattooer, needs, I’m no Helmut Newton here. It’s perfect, well not exactly, Friday and no delivery, but as the week was a short one, I understand, I can wait till Monday, no problem, but the perfection continues, they delivered on a Sunday! WTF!!! that’s just impressive.

I been thinking about change this morning, and the old cliche comes to mind, “the only constant in life is change” and I think it probably is true, but I wonder if it is also true about the very essence of you, can you change after all you have seen, experienced and lived through, this sets patterns in your life, and I wonder if therapy could even change those ingrained patterns. Of course I will admit that all those things cause your growth, and that in essence is change, but after years of that growth there is a whole bunch of things that cause you to act, react, and feel, and that forms patterns of behaviour and I wonder if this can ever be truly changed or worst case scenario modified?
All that, got me thinking about just what I let into my life, and how those things are going to change how I act, and worst of all, will I repeat the errors I made before in the handling of these things because I haven’t actually changed at all. The truth for me I’m afraid is dark, I am destined to keep repeating the same mistakes, I hear you all “the very fact that you acknowledge this is a step in the right direction”but this goes deeper that a step, these things are a lifetimes experiences, pushing, prodding, and moulding into a way of behaviour that for all the awareness in the world, I just can’t help slipping into.

I have been talking to my good friend Rob, a financial adviser, about money, and how we go about spending it, he drives a A5 wanted to own a coupe in his life, and on impulse went and did it. Now he’s thinking of getting something smaller less expensive, but was feeling a little pressure to keep up appearances in his industry, that clients might not see him as successful. But what came to mind, especially in his circumstance is that he’s advising people to spend wisely, not to spend on huge luxury items, and so the thinking was that by not bowing to this pressure you would show that you take your own advise.
Now you’re wondering, cool, good for you but what the fuck are you on about. Well last year I felt the financial pinch in a big way, and I had to make some really hard decisions, as I’m sure many have had to do in the last 3/4 years under the financial climate, but I found one thing, one solitary sentence that pulled me through. DO I REALLY NEED THIS? before any currency left my wallet, I asked myself that question several times, thats cause I’m a pig headed ass, and if the answer came up yes, then fine, but even the slightest hesitation, meant that i did not need it, it was not a necessity and thus left that item, purchase whatever just there. We have become obsessed with the “must have” syndrome, computer are out of date in three months, just as you got that big ass flat screen they spring 3D on you, soon the mattress you sleep on isn’t soft enough, then it’s not supportive enough, and to top it all your car will determine just how attractive you are, and so on and so forth, pretty soon you are upgrading your home to look like a palace cause your neighbors have. Never once going ok did I really need this, I mean really need this! Chances are you didn’t, so perhaps the answer is in just how we fill our lives, perhaps we have lost focus on the important part of our lives, and that is, that it’s fleeting, from the first breath, we begin dying, and chasing the propagated ideal, may fulfill a hole you think is important, but the true cost to you will be time, time you don’t have to waste, because like all of us one day you will die, and take nothing with you.
I woke this morning, the mist had rolled in, and I’m content, I have spent the last three days giving my time freely to some one that I believe needs my help to become a better tattooer, and I feel good about it, I’m sure that the time I spent will be evident in what she does from here on. And I’m happy, because the cost is well spent, and my soul really needs it.

So I got back Monday evening from Johannesburg, knowing that Tuesday morning I had a doctors appointment to have my blood pressure checked out… as I get older these things, well you gotta keep an eye on them. So at 09H15, I’m on my Vespa, and into town, off to Chris Barnard hospital to see Dr Ramjee… mmmm I get there and believe me my Dr is a good guy, he listens and gets what I deal with, and my health, so I go to him here and that’s it, even if it’s out of the way. Tuesday however, he caught me by surprise, he checked my blood pressure, and all’s good, then he said we need to chat, “how are you doing?”, “how are you feeling?” “when last have you had an EKG stress test? and when last did you have your prostate checked?” to which I replied, well its been a few years, surely we can just do a blood test for the prostate and a quick EKG while I’m here…. “No Mr Marcer, you need a prostate exam, and as you said while you are here, we might as well do it…” Oh fuck…!!! Ok I wasn’t prepared mentally for this… really dude, is this really necessary? I mean it kinda flies in the face of nature, I mean, stuff supposed to come out of there, not the other way round. Well sir if you will just drop your pants and underwear, take a lay down on your side, and breath. Breath??? breath??? you have your finger up my ass and that’s it? breath! right now all that pressing and checking is making me wanna go, and if he presses any harder I am, if you will pardon the pun, gonna shit myself. Now I see all you ladies going “DUDE! now you know what we feel like when we go to the Gyne” and I’m not going to argue the point either suffice to say that’s not how I wanted to start me Tuesday. Pop, ahhhh, the snap of latex, and he tells me all’s good, I can get dressed now, no fucking cigarette, no cuddle, what the fuck, I’m feeling violated, but I ain’t letting on I need to get the hell out of here.
Now into the nurses office, “Hi, Mr Marcer, take your shoes off and shirt and have a little lay down on the bed for me” where the hell is this going now? but I’m OK, just breath dude. Out comes a razor and she starts shaving my chest hair, this is just not on, it’s all a bit strong, I mean it’s just not appropriate, I have just been violated and now you’re are shaving my chest, where is this going to end? “Just relax, we are just going to attach an electrode here and there” an electrode here and there, I look like a Christmas tree with nipples!!!! so fuck it, I’m just gonna get through this. So after 10 or 15 minutes of laying there I’m getting a little sleepy and comfortable she says I need to now get up onto a treadmill and with all this shit attached to me, I need to run my violated ass off, I mean that’s a bit extreme after all this was a routine blood pressure test… well at 160 beats a minute my heart is about exploding in my chest, I am sucking air like an asthmatic she finally says “ok you can stop now and lay down on the bed.” That’s if I can even get to the thing without passing out or puking up. 20 minutes after that I find myself back in the Dr rooms as he checks out the EKG… all’s well he says, heart looks good no problems…. I bet he says that to all the boys. But you really need to have your retinas checked, here is a letter, just pop over the road to another Dr and he will do this checkup for you…. Thankfully I could only get an appointment for next Monday, what a relief, I can now go home happy in the knowledge I’m relatively healthy, even if it took all that to find out.
One last thing…. I have to do it all over again next year, and every year thereafter…. Oh fucking joy!!!!
Blood pressure my ass

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I just spent 6 days working in Johannesburg, and had a blast, besides the odd niggle, and the pollution, a lot hasn’t changed since I left 5 years ago.
I arrived Tuesday, and after popping into Randburg Motorcycles, an experience that has left a bitter taste in my mouth, Rob and I went to his place and set up the studio, awesome place, in a beautiful garden, everything set up right, perfect and in the evening I did a cover/clean up of a piece.
Wednesday saw us make a quick tour of some of the studios in the northern suburbs, and found one has moved into my old premises in Greenside…. rather funny, popped in to see Thys, and Jen at Fallen Hero’s before Sek’s arrival and we then started his forearm

Then at 6 Pippa arrived for her session, but we stopped for a bite, the Veda and Deon arrived and My brother Sandy and his Girl and there daughter, so the house got crazy. My hostess Michelle whipped up a dinner for the ever increasing masses, and buy 9 I had to grab Pippa and start working or we just would not have gotten to tattooing her, as it is, I didn’t get to finish the piece, but I will see her soon and get it done.

Friday I chilled with Rob, we chatted and just chilled out, and in the evening I did some work for Pedro, an addition to a piece I didi ten years ago, and just livened the whole shoulder up a bit. We then all went to Sakura for sushi, I was ravenous, so I think I nearly killed the sushi chef in having to keep up with me…. damn conveyor belt was a little slow, but a great meal.

Saturday started with the completion of Jacques back, this is the very first tattoo I did on him and over the last seven or eight years we have come a long way as he is heading to at least 60% coverage, looking at his back, I see at least a few more hours I could put into it. I then had Mich in for her old school anchor, she had the letters so I had to work around them, I think it’s cool.

Sunday started early with more for to Nicci’s back, final touches to Michelle, and 3 hours into Robs Geisha/Shiva/Mermaid color sleeve

Monday Rob and I met Nicci for a quick bite on the way out to the airport, and with that I flew home to my Island and my puppy girl Laika, who almost had a fit she was so glad to see me, she ran and threw herself at me, almost knocking me over… What a pooch.
I have left this post for to long so it does more read like a list than anything else, but it does sum the week up.